Radio România Internațional

Tag: Princess Margaret

  • December 10, 2018 UPDATE

    December 10, 2018 UPDATE

    SCHENGEN – The European Parliament on
    Tuesday is voting a new resolution calling for the admission of Romania and
    Bulgaria into the Schengen area, following Monday’s talks. The European Union
    Council is expected to take a final decision. At present both Romania and
    Bulgaria are partially enforcing the Schengen acquis, with controls being
    carried out on their external borders. The European Parliament has greenlit the
    two countries’ Schengen accession in 2011 and has repeatedly confirmed its
    decision. A decision has been postponed on multiple occasions due to opposition
    concerning the lack of reforms in the field of the judiciary.




    EUROPEAN COUNCIL – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday
    and Friday is attending the European Council meeting in Brussels, and the
    expanded format Euro Summit. According to the Presidency, the agenda of the
    European Council includes budget negotiations post-2020, the internal market of
    the union, migration management, fighting climate change, and combating racism
    and xenophobia. Speaking on the future EU budget, the Romanian president will
    plead for a speedy passing of the bill, specifying that Romania, as future
    presidency holder in the first half of next year, will act to get significant
    progress in negotiations. President Iohannis will also speak in support of
    enhanced dialog regarding migration. At the Euro Summit, the head of state will
    underline Romania’s support in the effort to consolidate the Economic and
    Monetary Union.




    VISIT – Romanian Custodian of the Crown, Princess Margaret, and her
    husband Radu continue their public visit to the UK, which started Sunday. The
    two attended on Monday a dinner in their honor, and on Tuesday they will meet
    Queen Elisabeth II at Buckingham Palace. On Wednesday they are scheduled to
    meet Prince Charles. On Sunday they were guests of honor at a remembrance in
    the royal chapel in London, honoring Queen Marie and King Mihai I. This is the
    first visit the princess makes to the UK since she took over as head of the
    royal house of Romania. The visit comes in commemoration of the Romanian
    Centennial and the commemoration of the end of WWI. The late King Mihai of
    Romania, who died on December 5, 2017, at 96, was third cousin to Queen
    Elisabeth.




    BREXIT – British PM Theresa May on Monday postponed the House of Commons
    vote on the Brexit agreement with the EU, admitting that the vote would fail at
    this moment. In her Parliament address, Theresa May said the House of Commons
    no longer has a majority to support the backstop mechanism for Northern Ireland
    stipulated in the Brexit agreement. Previously, the EU Court of Justice decided
    that the UK is free to unilaterally withdraw its notification of leaving the
    EU. In early October, the Scottish Supreme Court announced it filed a motion
    with the EU court to have issued a preliminary decision on the UK’s possibility
    of revoking its decision to leave the community. Full Brexit is scheduled for
    March 29, 2019.




    GAC – Romania’s Minister Delegate for European Affairs, George Ciamba,
    on Tuesday is attending the General Affairs Council meeting in Brussels. The
    agenda for talks includes the multiannual financial framework, the presentation
    of the joint agenda of the Romania-Finland-Croatia trio at the helm of the
    European Council over January 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020, as well as preparations
    for the European Council meeting of December 13-14, which will focus on the
    multiannual financial framework for the 2021-2027 period, the single market,
    foreign policy and economic and monetary union.




    HANDBALL – The Romanian women’s handball team will play Spain on
    Tuesday and Hungary on Wednesday in the 2018 European Championship group phase.
    To secure qualification from one of the top two positions in the group tables,
    Romania needs to win against Spain and Hungary. On Sunday, Romania lost to the
    Netherlands, 29-24, in the first group phase fixture, its first defeat after
    the wins against the Czech Republic, Germany and Norway.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • The Senior Helpline

    The Senior Helpline

    The number of elderly across Europe has increased substantially. According to the National Statistics Institute, in Romania more than 3 million people are over 65 years of age. Some are lucky enough to afford a place in a nursing home while others live alone and without any help. In order to help them, the Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation has opened a free and confidential helpline where old people aged over 65 can call and ask for help on various issues. Practically, for 25 years since Her Royal Highness Princess Margareta returned to Romania, she has tried to work out programs meant to increase the quality of life of the elderly. The Senior Helpline is a project that meets the needs of old people from Romania. By means of this project they can get information, find emotional support and companions to alleviate their loneliness, as Mugurel Enescu, the executive director of the Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation, said:



    “Old people can call our hotline 0800460001 where they will speak to kind and warm people. Those who answer the phone are women specially trained to talk to old people, who have social assistance studies and who are motivated to help old people solve their problems. It is actually a bridge between old people and the services they are provided with. We start from the premise that old people are not as informed as young people are, since not all of the elderly can use the Internet. We have created a well-structured database and we are able to make the connection between the elderly and the NGOs or other institutions that could help them. We can also recommend a seniors ‘clubs or other services that they can find in their own community.



    Since thousands of old people are affected by the phenomenon of social isolation and do not know where to go to in order to get support, there were very many of them who called the hotline, says Mugurel Enescu:



    “In the 3 months since it was launched we have had almost 1,100 calls, but what is most important is that there were more than 500 people who have asked for our help or simply wanted to get in contact with somebody to help them overcome the feeling of loneliness. There have been over 120 hours of conversation with the old people. They called because they wanted to get financial or medical help, because they needed practical advice or simply wanted to report a case of abuse on an old person. If someone is facing a difficult period in his or her life, we can put him or her in contact with a local NGO or social service that could attend to their needs.



    Mrs Elisabeta, 62, is from Baia Sprie, Maramures, and she is very happy with this initiative.



    “The national radio station, which I listen to a lot, announced the number of the hotline at the beginning of the year and on January 7 I called. I was curios to find out what the help line was all about and miss Roxana answered the phone. She was very nice. I told her what I needed and she helped me. She gave me the phone number I needed. Every time I call the help line I feel like talking to family members or friends. I trust these people. I believe their advice is useful and welcome.



    77-year-old Lucia Felicia is from Galati, eastern Romania, and is into painting. Every now and again she calls the Senior Helpline, where she often finds solutions to her problems.



    “I have received various suggestions for the issues I was facing at a certain time. People sometimes need to talk, particularly the elderly. When the mail came and I got the leaflet with the helpline, I remember I was very angry and resolved to give them a call. There was a malfunction in central heating that day; it was pretty cold inside and I remember that made me pretty angry. I called them and they gave me a couple of numbers where I should call and have the installation mended. So, I reckon its a pretty useful service. They encouraged me, asked me if I had started painting and all. They knew I was interested in opening an exhibition. After my husband passed away I got lonely and sometimes I need someone to encourage and help me.



    The Princess Margareta Foundation last year launched a volunteer-run association called ‘Never Alone, aimed at improving living conditions for the elderly by delivering and expanding a series of services for these people. Here is Mugurel Enescu, director executive with the Princess Margareta Association.



    “There is this association with more than 200 volunteers who can visit the elderly and even go to old peoples homes in an attempt to build a relation with these pensioners and get them out of isolation and loneliness. The association is trying to empower the elderly and periodically, when we get donations from various companies, at Easter or Christmas, we try to help them with packed goods.



    The new association was launched following a survey by the GFK institute, which highlights some of the issues currently faced by senior citizens in Romania. The survey shows that close to 1.5 million old people in Romania are affected by loneliness.



    “One in two old people is affected by loneliness. The same survey also shows that most of these people have a feeling of uselessness. Actually they are no longer involved in community life and thats what affects them the most. They dont want to depend on others and feel guilty about being a burden for other people. Such a phenomenon points to the fact that the society we live in is getting old and we had to adjust to this issue. So we have to offer these people a chance of playing an active role in the community, the opportunity of volunteering for an activity or another. Wed like to keep them active and help them find part-time employment after retiring to turn an extra penny.



    ‘The Senior helpline has been launched by a foundation entitled ‘Princess Margaret of Romania as part of a project run jointly with the mobile phone operator Vodafone Romania.


    (Translated by L. Simion and D. Bilt)